A For Amortentia
by K-t-B-s-P-a-F-o-R-e-V-e-R
Summary: Written for Valentine's Day. Someone had been using tiny darts laced with Amortentia to cause chaos. Is it a harmless Valentine prank or much more? The Marauders and Lily must put aside their differences and solve it. Or become its victim?
1. Prologue

This story is dedicated to a friend of mine who insists that I write more Romance and will not stop nagging me about it. Therefore, since it's Valentine's Day, I have decided to be rid of the nagging by writing this. Although there is a risk of my friend asking me to write more…

Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you recognize…no matter how much I wish I did…

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"I am pleased to announce that it is Valentine's Day and all students will have the afternoon off to spend time with their loved ones. I also would like to warn all students to beware of love potions which are also quite popular around this time." The headmaster of Hogwarts announced at breakfast.

"Hey James," whispered Sirius, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That it's time for another prank? You know that the Marauders never miss out on a chance for a good prank!" James grinned.

Remus shuffled over, "Did someone say prank?"

"Padfoot and Prongs, are you trying to leave us out of this one? We won't be happy if you do, and we would like to acknowledge that it's Moony that comes up with the technical parts and the research that none of us are willing to do. You two will be missing out on a lot if we are not around. I mean, who will gather the data and information?" Peter walked over from the other side of the table and took a seat next to James.

"Of course not, Wormtail," said James, smiling, "We would never leave you two out."

"There should be less talking and more planning!" Sirius complained.

"Should I slip Lily a love potion? Or make Snivellus fall in love with me?" James appeared to be deep in thought.

Unfortunately, Lily overheard. "Potter! If I find that any part of what you just said is true, I'll be reporting you strait to the headmaster!"

"Just joking!" He replied quickly, then, sank his voice to a whisper, "So…how about it?"

"We need more creativity, something good, stunning, and will get people talking about it for weeks after." Remus said, shaking his head.

Sirius stood up and shouted. "BRAINSTORMING TIME!!!" he then received a death glare from the rest of the Marauders and sat down, blushing slightly. "Sorry, so, any ideas for a prank that we have to be ready for in a few mere hours?"

"Now, we will need to put all our efforts into this, we usually plan a large scale prank weeks ahead of time, this we don't have today. So this is what I have in mind…"

The feast proceeded with the Marauders whispering, scheming…but little does they know that someone have something far greater planned for them.


	2. A Shape in the Shadows

There, in the halls was someone, or something lurking in the shadows, it had breeched Hogwarts' defences and threatens its inhabitants. With chaos or with danger? That is the question. But not even the great Albus Dumbledore had anticipated what was going on, or what is to come, or the insidious plot behind it. He, the Chief Warlock of Wizengamot (and many other countless titles) was about to become its victim.

"So, _that_ would be our final plan?" Remus asked, pointed into a seemingly blank piece of paper.

"Yep! Better get working Moony, it is quite complicated, and don't you dare think of complaining and we will kill you if you fail. After all, it is you who came up with it, and also _those_ twists" James pointed to a few places on the paper. "You said that it will prove to be a challenge."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean that you will sit around and let me do all the work!" He scolded.

"But isn't that what always happen? I mean, you're supposed to be the brains of our group." Peter answered with a sigh.

"Not this time! You may come in turn to help me research at the library." He stood up, and dragged Sirius by the collar. "Starting with Sirius."

"Hey, not fair!" Laughed the dog animagus as he struggled to free himself from the werewolf's grasp.

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They were half way down the corridor to the library when Remus launched himself onto Sirius, forcing him to fall to the ground.

"Remus! What did you do that for?" Shouted Sirius as Remus gave him another tug and pulled him into an empty class room and locked the door.

"Something is not right. I smelled an unfamiliar presence. And look!" He took out his dragon-hide gloves and pulled out a tiny object from the walls. "A dart, with Amortentia, and there is something else that I can't quite identify."

"So you're saying that someone is trying to pull a prank on us?" Sirius was now examining the miniature object that had a diameter of no more than a strand of a hair.

"This stuff is not easy to come by, and the potion is certainly not an easy one to brew. I suspect something greater at work here, and I don't like it." Said Remus as he performed a series of spells on it.

"There is no way that we will get any competition if that's what you fear. Do you think that it may be Snivellus?" Sirius laughed at Remus's seemingly ridiculous theory.

"No, I cannot say more until I have more clues. I have a bad feeling about this, but for the time being, let's go to the library."

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"Hey Evans! Since it's Valentine's Day and you don't have a date, will you go out with me?" James shouted as he chased Lily through the corridor.

"You think that after saying no through all these years that I will finally agree? Not a chance! Why don't you go bug someone else?" She turned and gave him a slap on the face, "And don't even think about pranking me!"

"Lily! Come back!" Cried James as he continued to pursue her.

"Stop this instant Potter, or I shall report to the teachers that you are harassing me." She replied coldly.

James pretended to walk away, but after he turned around a corner, he put on his invisibility cloak and started to stalk Lily. It was a good thing he did, because the only thing that stopped the dart from reaching its target was the cloak.

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Peter Pettigrew, or Wormtail, as he is known to his friends, the Marauders (which, by the way, are the most notorious pranksters Hogwarts had ever seen) is scurrying around in his animagus form, a rat, to gather the required gossips and information for the big prank prepared for Valentine. He saw an odd shape in the shadows, and the next thing he knows, he has a huge urge to hug Snape and…let's say no more on that matter.

Instead of scuttling around to gather required materials, and information for the prank, he found himself on the threshold of the Slytherin common room. He tried to shake the thought from his head, but it came back, stronger still. Then, from a distance, a voice called out to him.

"Wormtail! Get back here! Where do you think you are going? I thought we told you to stay in the corridors and stairs, the part that involves _them_ don't come till later, not until Moony figure out all the parts. And besides, it is your turn to take the library shift. Finally! No more dusty tomes." The voice of Padfoot called, Wormtail scampered behind a statue and transformed back.

"Get over to the library, I need to find James, where is he? Probably stalking Lily in his cloak again." He muttered as he headed back to the Gryffindor common room.

Peter was reluctant about leaving the dungeons, but left for the library anyways. On the way, he noticed people acting really strange, falling in love with seemingly random people and abandoning their girlfriends or boyfriends. He didn't pay too much attention, for his thoughts were focused on Snape, the potion genius, master of dark arts. He sighed deeply in his mind and was infatuated with the image of Severus Snape standing on the other end of the library.

Remus saw Wormtail sitting there, looking dazed. He followed his glance and found Snape on the receiving end; could Wormtail have a secret crush on Snape? Impossible! Or maybe he had become the victim of the darts. He is useless now, with his stupid crush.

The calculations, research was already done, so Remus whipped out the Marauder's Map from his pocket and took a quick glance. People were still in class, James, was in the dorms along with Sirius. So Moony had to practically drag Wormtail all the way up to the Tower.

"James, I trust that Sirius had relayed the information about the darts?" Remus said as he walked in through the portrait hole.

"Yes, and I found one stuck to my invisibility cloak."

"Then I'm sorry to say that Mr. Wormtail had become the dart's victim and had fallen in love with Snape of all people." Remus said as he shoved Peter forwards.

"Are we still going to carry out our prank?" Sirius asked, slightly disappointed that the prank may be cancelled.

"I'm afraid not. With a quarter of its population under a love potion, I don't think that it will do much good." Moony shook his head.

"You mean I spent all that time in the library for nothing?" Padfoot's eyes went wide as he shouted.

"It is not for nothing!" Moony the bookworm protested, "We can use that information some other time!"

"Then we better stop this madness, I could have sworn I saw Flitwick profess his love for McGonagall, and her, to Slughorn." James said with a look of disgust.

"Who did Slughorn propose to?" Sirius asked with a smirk.

James growled, "Lily."

Sirius and Remus exchanged glances and then roared with laughter, with tears pouring out of their eyes. "Lily! Why didn't I see that coming?" Sirius gasped, rolling on the floor, clutching his stomach.

"He might have done it anyways, even without the effect of those darts." Remus collapsed onto his bed with a broad grin.

"Why don't you two just shut up?!"

"What's that?" Remus leaned over Peter's desk, there lying on the desk was a piece of parchment covered in Peter's untidy scrawl and messy drawing of hearts.

"A love letter to Snape!" James snorted. "I wonder…" His eyes widened as he peered out the window, there, out on the Quidditch pitch was the great Albus Dumbledore on his knees and conjuring illusions of cupids and heart shaped fireworks."

"Who is Professor Dumbledore in 'love' with?" Sirius leaned over, losing interest in Peter's letter.

"Madam Hooch." James laughed.

"James! Watch out!" Remus pulled him away just in time as a dart sped through the open window towards him.

"More of those bloody darts…"James muttered as he headed down to the common room.

"Potter! Why did you do such a vile thing?" Lily screamed at the top of her lungs, her emerald eyes filled with fury.

"What did I do?" James bore an innocent look on his face, though he knew exactly what she was talking about.

"Giving love potion to people in the school, I can't believe that you have the guts to use them on teachers!"

"But it wasn't us! Peter had also fallen victim to the love potion." Sirius protested from the top of the stairs.

"You did that so that people won't be suspicious, or he might have upset you that you wanted to get revenge by making him fall in love with Severus. This is very low of you; even I didn't think that you would sink this low." Lily was angry; there is no way to prove their innocence while she is in this state.

"Lily, please, listen to me, we are innocent!" Remus joined the pair.

"Then, Remus, would you kindly explain why the majority of the school, apart from you three and me have fallen victim to this prank." Her tone was cold, and her eyes were filled with hatred.

"Because Remus…he…" The werewolf put up a hand to silence Sirius then spoke.

"One of the darts missed me by a stroke of fortune, I found it, then, performed the identification spell and found that it was some sort of thin metal needle that had been laced with Amortentia and some sort of substance that I can't identify, I notified James and Sirius, but Peter had already become its victim. We had been vigilant ever since." He explained calmly. "Listen, if we wanted to pull a prank, shouldn't the Slytherins be targeted? But now, almost none of them got caught with the love potion. Therefore, it should be easy to deduce that it wasn't us. James will never miss a chance to prank the Slytherins."

"Yes…Can I see those darts that you were talking about?" Lily asked quietly.

"Here, we have gotten three so far, one that was stuck on James' robes; the other two were stuck on the wall as they missed us." Remus took out a small glass vial from his pocket and handed it to Lily. "They are very tiny and barely visible. Be careful! I only dare to handle them with dragon hide gloves."

"I see…I will keep these for now, until I found the truth in your words." That was all she said before going up to her room.

"Now look what you did Moony, we have lost our only clue!"

"For the time being, I have a feeling that there will be lots more coming." Remus said as he looked around.

Then, suddenly, his nose twitched, and eyes widened. He whipped out his wand in a flash and yelled "Protego!" There was a soft tinkle as the volley of darts struck the shield and fell harmlessly to the floor. A dark form slid out of the shadows and out of the common room.

James picked one up carefully with his leather gloves, it began to sizzle, making James drop the thin metal and quickly removed his gloves before it hissed and corroded away. "These ones are lethal, they are made to kill." He said in surprise.

"So that we won't meddle in what-ever-that-shadow-is' affairs." Sirius spoke after recovering from his shock.

"This is no mere prank!" Realized Remus with terror.


	3. Accused

James carefully gathered up every single one of the needle-like objects, picking each up with a pair of tweezers. A voice echoed throughout the common room and almost made him drop his jar of needles. "James Potter, what on earth are you doing, now, go get your friends and we'll be going straight to the headmaster's office!" Professor McGonagall cried.

"Professor McGonagall, the havoc caused by Amortentia wasn't us! I saw a dark shadowy shape that threw these at us!" He held up the glass jar that held the miniscule objects.

"You will explain it at the headmaster's office; and don't try to stall for time."

James groaned and went up the stairs to retrieve Moony and Padfoot.

"Where is Peter Pettigrew?" she demanded.

"We do not know, he had fallen victim to those accursed darts and went off wandering to find his 'love'." Said James sincerely with a shake of his head.

"Then you three will go first." She snapped and practically dragged them to the stone gargoyles that guarded the stairway to the office.

"Cinnamon Hearts!" She shouted angrily. The stone figures sprung aside to allow them to enter.

Once they were inside, they saw the entire staff glaring at them, Grindalwald (since there really was no other choice), the temporary DADA teacher gripped Peter's shoulders tightly. "Do you understand what you did could earn you suspension from the school?" Professor Dumbledore said gravely.

"It wasn't us! It was a dark shadowy figure that had done it." Sirius protested.

"Do you honestly believe that we will accept that lie? Mr. Pettigrew here had already confessed under the influence of the Veritaserum that your little group had done this abominable act." Grindalwald sneered.

"What if I showed you the memory?" Remus said all of the sudden.

"That could be alright, Albus, your pensieve." Said Pomona Sprout thoughtfully.

From the black cabinet, the old wizard took down the stone basin and placed it onto his desk, it was empty. Remus placed his wand on his temple and drew out a silvery strand of memory; he then deposited it into the pensive, filling it to the brim with the silvery liquid.

The staff dragged them along as well and once they came in contact with the shimmering memory, they were sucked into the pensive. The first one was of Sirius and Remus' encounter with the shadow in the halls, then the dorm and lastly in the common room. Hopefully, it will be enough to convince the teachers.

"It was quite vague." Commented Grindalwald, "I would suppose that it might have been just a shadow and nothing more."

"But what of the needles? Surely they would be not just a coincidence!" James tried to reason.

"If you are trying to weasel your way out of trouble, you are not doing a good job of it." He scoffed.

"But we are not…" Sirius was cut off by his head of house.

"You should be glad that I'm feeling generous and only giving you a month of detention. But if I find love potion anywhere near you not to mention those accursed needle-like objects, you will be suspended." She snapped.

"Yes Professor McGonagall." James said dispiritedly and walked out with the rest of the Marauders.

On their way back to the common room, a faint snicker was heard; it grew louder and was turned to a cackle and just as it reached a maniacal laughter, it ceased.

Peter hid behind James, frightened. James shrugged it off and gave the password to the Fat Lady, "Cluricaun."

Remus took a quick glance outside before climbing in through the portrait-hole. As the portrait clicked shut, an echo of a soft snigger was heard.

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"Potter! I thought you said that you have nothing to do with it! And you, Remus, I…I believed you! How could you lie to me like that!?" Lily was outraged when she heard of their episode in the headmaster's office.

They didn't even bother to try to defend themselves, but retreated to their detention with Filch quietly. Lily, however, calmed down a bit at their strange reaction and followed them because of her suspicion. She saw them walk to their individual detentions, James with Filch, Remus with Flitwick, Peter with Slughorn and Sirius, McGonagall. Since when did the Marauders ever go to detention willingly? She decided to confront them after.

"I examined the objects that you gave me, though there is a possibility that you transfigured or acquired from an unknown 'source'. I won't believe you until you give me further evidence." She tossed the vial at James.

"Listen, Lily, whoever planned this wants us out of the way because we alone have seen him (let's assume that it is a 'he' for now). Or, he want to use us, the notorious pranksters as a scapegoat for the events to divert the attention so he can carry out what ever else he had planned. My instincts tell me that this is some sort of sinister plot and not just a harmless prank. You got to trust us; it is you alone that we can turn to now." Remus pleaded.

"Like I said, provided a little more evidence or after I see this person for myself I will believe you." She said as she turned and walked down the hall.

"I can't believe it! Can't she see the logic behind Moony's lecture?" Sirius shook his head incredulously.

"Hey, where did Wormtail go?" said James as he looked around.

"Did the antidote wear off or something? Since I'm positive that no one else was here beside us and Lily. And if he was here, shouldn't we also be targeted and not just Wormtail?" Remus leaned against the wall as James took out the Marauder's Map.

"I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good." He announced and scanned the map for Wormtail. "Just as I suspected, down in the dungeons chasing Snape again."

"But he was just fine when we went to detention and back!" Padfoot's hand slid to his pocket to get his wand.

"Wait a minute!" cried James, "Let's see if we can find that thing on the map!"

"Yes, why didn't we think of this before? This way, we will also uncover the identity of the mysterious figure." Shouted Remus in agreement.

James frowned as he scanned the map thoroughly, "there is nothing suspicious."

"So it must be an inhabitant of the castle. Right?" Sirius gave Remus a questioning look.

"Yes…" He said slowly, tracing the outline of the armour beside him, then he bent down as if to pick up something. "Look what I found!"

It was a thin strand of silky fabric, certainly not belonging to someone that is at the castle or had visited recently. Remus suspected it to be Acromantula silk, used in only the most expensive robes. The curious thing about it is that it carried a bit of blood with it, and behind a dusty, filthy knight is certainly not where one of such stature would go.

Padfoot and Prongs weren't paying attention, they were still focused at the map and drawing different conclusions and theories.

"Do you think that it may be Grindalwald?" Padfoot asked.

"I told you that having a ex-dark lord as a professor was bad news." James said as he searched for the dot labelled 'Gelert Grindalwald'.

"I beg to differ; he wouldn't try anything odd with professor Dumbledore here. I wonder if it has anything to do with that new dark lord that had just risen a while ago, Voldemort I think his name was." Remus joined in.

"Who cares about some dark lord wannabe? The real threat is the dark lord that we have right here in Hogwarts, our territory." Sirius lowered his voice to a growl at the thought of Grindalwald taking over Hogwarts.

"This whole affair is hardly our concern, now that there is a possibility of some evil dudes behind this, but since no one else will take care of it, we must take this matter into our own hands. There is no way that evil will prevail, not with the Marauders around! Let's save Hogwarts!" shouted James.

"First of all, I would suggest lowering your voice. I wouldn't want to have our plans hollered around the school." Moony said quietly.

"Right, so second of all, we must somehow get Lily on our side." Added James.

"Is Lily all you think about? Oh right, I forgot, there is no way that you'll miss a chance to try to impress her." Sirius said mockingly as he gave James a pat on the back.

"No I'm serious this time…"

"No, I'm Sirius!"

"Sirius, really we had enough with those jokes, Lily's potion skills, ability in charms, and a lot of other capabilities will prove to be a great asset." James glared.

"We also need some sort of headquarters, the library, perhaps." Remus took out a piece of parchment and scribbled down all the things mentioned.

"Not more research!" the dog animagus groaned.

"Yes more research, now, to convince Lily, I'd say we…" The three Marauders gathered at a corner of the walls and started plotting again.

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"Aha! I thought I'd find you here!" The emerald eyed witch said. "The Library, typical."

"Will you help us then?" James said hopefully.

"I will, but that doesn't mean that I will put up with your cavalier attitude, I have the right to hex any of you that get on my nerves and if I find any hint that you are up to no good, don't expect me to do nothing about it."

In the empty class room across the hall, a dark shape sprang into view; it hissed softly, "So, you think that your pathetic little group will be able to stop me eh? Well, I will give you a little something to remember and it won't be pleasant. Once you are out of the way, nothing, nothing at all will stop me." It then retreated back into a shadow and vanished without a trace.


	4. No Where to Run?

Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize, perhaps just a few OCs and the plot...the rest belongs to JK Rowling and the riddle in this chapter, J. R. R. Tolkien, which was used just because I couldn't think of anything else...

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A green beam whizzed by, barely missing them. The lethal curse left a scorch mark on the wall, but the gang failed to notice it, being intently focused on a robed figure that glided through the hall ways, a diversion nonetheless. The caster uttered a silent curse, cursing his bad aim. Then he stopped, pondered for a second and then, a malicious smile crept upon his lips.

"Hey look!" exclaimed James, "when did this get here?"

He ran his fingers across the blackened area, it is evident that it was left behind by a curse meant for them, but it was fortunate that the caster had bad aim or was temporarily distracted or what ever. The important thing is that the spell missed, James shuddered at the thought of the curse being an unforgivable, or some sort of dark spell and how they had narrowly escaped. This goes to prove that they weren't dealing with a prankster but an evil mastermind. On the other hand, it may have just been a harmless spell, but he'd have to check with Remus for the possibilities.

"Judging by what we are dealing with, I would say that it an unforgivable is the most likely possibility, but of course, like you said, dark spells are possible as well as some very damaging light spells, off the top of my head,I can't really think of any that would be capable of doing this without destroying the surroundings, so yea, I'd still say an unforgivable." Murmured Remus as he examined the burn mark.

Lily tapped Remus lightly on the shoulders, "Now, before we start investigating, I think that we should have a headquarter somewhere first. The Room of Requirements seem to be a nice choice. It would be more private and safer than the common room."

"Room of Requirements?!" James gave her a puzzled look, "how come after all those years of marauding we never discovered it?"

Lily scoffed lightly, "You think that you would be capable of discovering every single one of Hogwart's secrets? Let me tell you now that there are a lot more out there than you think. I personally know quite a few. Anyways, the room of requirements is on the 7th floor, located opposite of the portrait of Barnabas the Barmy to find it, walk three times past the blank wall while concentrating on what you want and then the room will create a room according to your desires."

Up they climbed the winding stairs, ever changing, forever moving and to the new students, the ultimate nightmare. But to that lovely group of sixth year students, it was mere child's play, to find that location on the seventh floor, especially to that notorious gang of pranksters who forever prowl the halls of Hogwarts. That portrait was right in front of them, Barnabas the Barmy, still trying to teach the trolls ballet as usual. James turned; the wall was blank, as it was supposed to be. He took a long stride forward, and focused.

"I need a place, a place where we can be safe from what ever is invading the school and plenty of things for research…a route to the kitchens would be nice too, a safe one that is. And that should be it for now." James Potter the stag animagus thought.

Almost instantaneous, the ornate double door materialized right before their eyes, Sirius leapt forward and yanked the door open. Behold! The room was about as large, if not larger than the Gryffindor common room, complete with fire place and all. However, instead of the red and gold, it was a harmonious medley of all the house colours; the cool placid green and silver of Slytherin, contrasted the blazing, fiery red and gold of Gryffindor while the sunny yellow and obsidian of Hufflepuff complimented the sapphire blue and shining bronze of Ravenclaw. It was a large circular room with a high domed roof with winding staircases on each side that lead to the 'dorms'. Between the staircases was an archway with two passages, one labelled 'To the Kitchen' and the other, 'The Library of Rowena Ravenclaw or Hogwarts library'. There was a tiny note under the second sign, _the library of Rowena Ravenclaw is accessible only when given permission or in the company of one worthy of the title 'The house of Ravenclaw' _

"I thought the sorting hat was big on house unity, apparently, it is the school! It's alive!" exclaimed Peter.

James softly added, "I guess that it's because of the great bond of friendship between the four founders, even if it had been broken later on. It was their united efforts that they had accomplished this feat and built the school of their dreams, at first they must have wanted the four houses to get along, just like they had. And the school is just trying to carry out their initial wish."

"Wow Potter," said Lily with a grin, which was returned with a warm smile from James "I never thought I'd hear that from you."

For a moment they gazed into each other's eyes and became oblivious to the remainder of the Marauders and for once, Lily's hatred for James had vanished into thin air. "Does this mean that you'll go out with me after all this is over?" James Potter whispered.

"Maybe, just maybe, but no promises though!"

He shuffled over closer and said, "Thanks Lily, that maybe means the world to me."

"Um, James?" said Sirius tapping his best friend's shoulder, "Did you forget that we are here? Besides, look what Moony found!"

"What is it Remus?" asked Lily.

"On the table, there was a letter addressed to us, I'll read it. _To my beloved group of pranksters, the Marauders, and the lovely young lady Lily of the house of Evans, I see that you have requested my help at a perilous time like this. Perhaps you have heard the term Guardian of Hogwarts, or maybe not, well, I will explain in as few words as I can. Normally, when one becomes the headmaster, they are automatically appointed as the guardian as well, bounded by an unbreakable oath and strong compulsion charms. Their main purpose is to protect Hogwarts and surroundings, and, if possible, the magical and/or muggle population in Britain and the world. When the appointed guardian is unavailable due to circumstances, new guardian or guardians will be appointed. With this letter, I, Hogwarts, bearing the will of the four founders, appoint you five as the guardian in training of Hogwarts. Your current task is to find survivors from the curse and bring back here and they, along with you will be the guardians, of course, there aren't many out there that are free of the curse therefore the number will not be too much. And also for now your first priority will be research, to discover the one behind this and cures for the potion. It is contagious and cannot be fully erased, just like with your friend Peter. I will modify the Marauder's Map to locate non-affected people within the castle while you can research, you will be notified when it's ready_."

They stared at it in silence, awkward silence. Who would have thought that the castle had a will of its own? And subconsciously, everyone shifted away from Peter Pettigrew, in fear of being affected by the contagious properties of the modified potion. It finally brought up by James that they should head over to the library which was unanimously agreed upon.

As they proceeded down the stony tunnel, the emerald-eyed witch realized a flaw, "If we indeed are going to research on this aspirant dark lord, I highly doubt that there will be books to document anything about him."

"I suppose," answered James, "but maybe Hogwarts can help us."

A piece of parchment fluttered down from the ceiling, the modified marauder's map, along with a note stuck on to the back. _Tom Marvolo Riddle was a descendent of Salazar Slytherin as well as Cadmus Peverell. He is a half blood who was sorted into Slytherin. After graduating, Tom had chosen to work at Borgin and Burke's, the dark artefact shop in Knockturn Alley. Afterwards, he became Grindalwald's apprentice and studied necromancy and the dark arts in Albania, he had paid a visit there previously, almost immediately after his graduation although the purpose is unknown, it certainly was very vital. _

"That was…interesting, but since he was Grindalwald's apprentice, isn't it still more probable that he is behind this instead of this Tom Riddle person?"Sirius asked.

James was still focused on the note, staring blankly, "Well, we can't say for sure, let's see what Hogwarts had done to our map first."

"Whoa!" he exclaimed, the Marauder's map was still the same in appearance but instead of the black ink dots, most of them were in bright hot pink, the rest sparse few were in their corresponding house colours.

"So, the pink dots are obviously the infected people and the rest are the ones that are still safe and Hogwarts had given us the house they are in as well." Lily concluded.

They took a moment to examine the 'survivors', and it was certainly obvious that the second most reoccurring colour was green. They were also able to locate about four blue dots and two red and two yellow. The Ravenclaws survivors were all up in their dorms, presumably studying, the Hufflepuffs and Gryffindors as it seems, were just lucky to have avoided the needles. In the end it was decided that the avoid trying to 'rescue' any of the Slytherin students at all because it is uncertain which side they serve, Lily tried to debate about the fourth year student Emmeline Vance, but Sirius was firm on the stereotype that all Slytherins are evil, he looked at James to offer him back up yet, in the end, James went on Lily and Remus's side. Their list of 'true' survivors was: from Slytherin, Emmeline Vance; Hufflepuff, Hestia Jones, and Rita Skeeter; Ravenclaw, Caradoc Dearborn, Vulnet Zejnelovski, Helen Davies, and Violet Clearwater and finally from Gryffindor, Gideon and Fabian Prewett. After the list was done, they realized something in unison. There was no muggle-born on the list.

They settled on splitting into two groups, Remus and Sirius, James and Lily. Originally, it was James, Sirius and Remus and Lily, but they (Lily and Remus) feared that putting the two hot-headed Gryffindor together will cause them to do something rash. Firstly, James and Lily took the invisibility cloak and wandered near the Whomping Willow to get Gideon and Fabian (both with fiery red hair), a fifth year and third year student, respectively and used a confundus charm due to laziness, for they, were not in the mood for lengthy explanations, at least James wasn't and both wanted to take care of it quick and simple, since one more minute out in the open is one more minute of danger. After taking them to their little hideout in the castle, Remus and Sirius took their turn went strait to the Ravenclaw dormitories.

Reaching for the bronze eagle door-knocker, a sure sign of the Ravenclaw dorms, it spoke, "This thing all things devours :birds, beasts, trees, flowers; gnaws iron, bites steel; grinds hard stones to meal; Slays king, ruins town, and beats high mountain down." (A/N: I know, it's from Riddles in the Dark from the Hobbit, but my tired mind refuse to cough up anything else…)

Both of them had stood there, perplexed, until Sirius finally shouted, "Time!"

Remus smiled, although he was indeed surprised that Sirius had gotten the answer so quickly. The eagle door knocker spoke again, "Now, who would have thought that Godric's students would have gotten the answer so quickly? But, nevertheless, you've answer the riddle, you are worthy to enter."

Remus stood there, amazed at the beauty of the Ravenclaw common room, for a second, there was a hint of regret for his decision to be sorted into Gryffindor when he had the choice of being in Ravenclaw, he was awed by the starry dome as he and Sirius began to clumsily climb up the stairs to the dorms, they knocked lightly on the polished mahogany door to which Vulnet and Caradoc (and a few others that were not present) resided and within is also, the visitor, Helen.

Caradoc answered the door; he smiled and motioned them in quickly, and afterwards, sealing the door with a 'colloportus'. "So you have noticed too." It was a statement, not a tone of questioning.

"How…?" Remus asked.

"Seriously," Vulnet said, and put up his hand to silence Sirius's endless lame joke, "At least try to keep your plans secret."

"We saw you at the library," explained Helen, "We know about your hideout in the room of requirements and, well, we actually noticed too and planned on using the room of requirements as our headquarters too."

"So we are basically wondering if we can join you." Concluded Caradoc.

"Well, that was easy. We are here for the same purpose!" said Sirius.

Vulnet said with a small sigh, "Well, we kind of figured it out already."

As they walked out of the Ravenclaw common room with Violet Clearwater who had joined them, they were met with a wide-eyed ghost. The Grey Lady.

She looked at Vulnet in the eye, blinked and said, "Your last name wouldn't happen to be Zejnelovski would it? And you are from Albania right?"

He was deeply puzzled, "Yes," he answered.

"Oh, what was I thinking?! There is no time for that! The basilisk and inferi are coming!" as the Grey Lady finished her sentence, they heard a hissing sound from the hall to their left and from around the corner, about a dozen inferi came wobbling.

--

A/N: I promise, that none of my OCs will turn to Mary Sue or Gary Stu, and the main characters will remain Lily and James, if it gets sueish please tell me and i will correct it. I promise, sues won't exist in my stories! (unless i intend to write a mary sue parody later)


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